Angular momentum coefficients for meson strong decay and the unquenched quark model (CHARM 2013)

Abstract

Most models for the strong decay of mesons, as well as unquenched quark models which incorporate the effect of coupling to meson-meson channels, assume that the coupling is driven by the creation of a quark-antiquark pair in spin triplet. Their matrix elements can be factorised into a sum over (model-dependent) spatial matrix elements multiplied by (model-independent) coefficients. A general expression for these coefficients is obtained, and their properties are studied. Numerical tables of the coefficients can be used as a starting point for future calculations. The coefficients lead to model-independent predictions for decay amplitudes and widths, and can explain how mass shifts in the unquenched quark model do not spoil successful predictions of the ordinary (quenched) quark model. This article is based on work which will be presented in a forthcoming paper.